Today's Gospel

It’s Time to Wake Up!

Welcome back to Radical & Relevant where each day we explore the genius of the Gospel and look for creative ways to try and live it out in our lives. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 15:1-3 and 11-32. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them a parable. There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me." And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country. And there, he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country. And he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed the swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate. But no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to eat and to spare? But I perish here with hunger. I will rise up and go to my father. And I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'"

And he rose and came to his father. And while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the Father said to his servant, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and make merry, for this son who was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." And they began to make merry. And now his eldest son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound." But the brother was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. But he answered his father low, "These many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me even a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf." And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found." So we have this classic reading of the prodigal son and father and the brother and the travels and the squandering and we've heard it many times. But is there a word or phrase or an idea that leapt out at you today? For me, it was this phrase, "When he came to himself--" the sun has gone off. He's squandered everything. He's feeding the swine. He's starving." And the scripture says, "When he came to himself," when he came to his senses, in what way do you need to come to your senses? What way do I need to come to my senses?" Because we do abandon our senses at times. We do get caught up in the myths and the lies of the world, and that's what's happened here. The sun has gone off, and he's been brainwashed by the world, and he's squandered everything, and he's starving. But then he's come to his senses. He's the son of a great king. And he goes home to his father. And so, in what way today are you being called to come to your senses, to wake up, wake up, and look at things differently in a way that is more true, is more real, is more honest? Wake up, come to our senses. It's a beautiful idea. Let's embrace it. Have a great day. And remember, don't just be yourself. Be the-very-best-version-of-yourself. All that God created you to be.

When's the last time you allowed an experience to touch the very depths of your soul? That's from my new book, Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, I encourage you to pick up a copy. It's about probably one of the biggest struggles in my life, and that is to escape the insanity of busyness and the insanity of the urgent. In order to allow experiences to touch the very depths of our soul, we do have to slow down to the speed of joy.